It hardly needs to be emphasized how important the communication between the accommodation staff and the guests is. More often than not, the guest's experience at your property is primarily based on their interaction with the on-site staff, by phone or email. The communication with your guests begins before the guest has ever booked accommodation at the hotel. The guest often makes contact before booking, he has looked at sales channels and the website, and he usually makes a well-thought-out decision before deciding to stay at your property. That decision can be based on his interactions with your property. Times have changed quickly and in modern society the customer expects fast and good answers, if it is not there the customer is quick to look elsewhere. Patience is low.

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In order to maintain a fast and good response, it requires the time and attention of staff. It is also not in everyone's blood to maintain good relations with future or existing customers, so it is necessary to carefully choose who will take care of those relations.

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It is important that the answer is in line with the image of the accommodation. Does the property have a relaxed atmosphere and focuses more on e.g. backpackers and low-budget travelers? Is the accommodation more high-end where the customer expects formality and professionalism in response? Or should you go the middle way?

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There are various tools that can be used to assist with your guest communication, as more often than not the questions are quite similar from most visitors. 

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• Chatbot
  • Chatbots can be a great help on your website, but it is rather pointless to have a chatbot that is not trained in its responses. Chatbots are an AI learning machine. It is therefore important if a property is going to have a chatbot, to assist with quick responses, that it is well set up and trained at the beginning and maintained over time so that it delivers what it is supposed to deliver.
    
    
• Automated replies on sales channels
  • Many sales channels offer to set up automatic responses to certain inquiries such as early check-in requests, parking inquiries and bed preferences to name a few. They are easy to set up and to maintain and can definitely be of assistance to speed up answers to those requests. 
    

• Templates on sales channels & FAQ’s
  • Most, if not all, of the main sales channels today have so-called "Templates" for visitor responses so that you don't have to handwrite these common responses each time they get asked or in case you need to deliver information to all your guests prior to their arrival.
  • The sales channels are as diverse as they are many, but as an example Booking.com offers prospective customers to send questions to the property before booking. Those answers can then be published on the Booking.com page so that other prospective guests can possibly find answers to their questions as well and thereby prevent getting the same questions from potential guests over and over again.
    
    
• Automated E-mails
  • A nicely set up confirmation email that catches the guest's eye, is easy to read and doesn't have an overwhelming amount of information is key to getting information to the guest as soon as possible after booking. Check-in emails should be short and concise if the intention is for the guest to check-in themselves.
  • Don’t take advantage of the automated emails by overusing them. An email that no one reads does not serve much purpose. 
  • Make sure that your “”Outgoing email settings” are in order to ensure that your emails are being delivered promptly to your visitors.
    
    
• Website and booking engine
  • A good website doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. It simply needs to contain the most important information for potential customers to attract bookings and that the information about the accommodation is accessible, correct and up-to-date. It is also desirable to have a good booking engine for accommodations that offer many additional products i.e. upsell items.

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Guest Communication - Best Practices

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Here are some valuable tips and strategies to keep in mind when training yourself or your team in effective guest communication practices

• Personal communication skills
  • Welcome the guest with a smile and a greeting. Address the person by name. The experience of the person who sent the email, called or showed up at the front desk should be that he is important to you and that he does not feel that he is "disturbing" you at work. Give of yourself.
  • Compliment the guest. Find something in common with the person, it is always a good "ice breaker" and communication will be more comfortable after that.
  • Try to remember something about the guests you checked in, it will increase the chances of a good experience for them throughout their stay. Otherwise, it's always good to talk about the weather ;)
    
    
• Go above and beyond to resolve your guest’s issues or queries
  • It is always a good rule of thumb to write notes in the guest's booking or where you keep track of further information about prospective guests. If an employee on duty took a call or talked to the person in more detail, there should be information about it for the next employee to see so that it is easy to pick up where it was left.
  • Follow up on things and show the guest that his inquiry has not been forgotten or lost, if there is a complaint, always take it seriously and accommodate the guest. One bad comment on the internet over something seemingly minor can have a snowball effect in the long run.
    
    
• Communication with guests 24/7
  • As we know, travel can happen at any time of the day. Your prospective or existing customers may live on the other side of the globe. They are awake when you sleep and you are awake when they sleep. It can therefore often slow down the response enormously, and an issue that could take 1 hour to resolve has become an issue of several days. Of course, many accommodations have 24/7 night security, but are those staff trained to handle all guest interactions and inquiries that may come their way? Or does it all have to wait until tomorrow? Could a well-trained chatbot handle these basic inquiries? Is the check-in information being delivered to the guest? If there is no 24/7 staff on-site, is the signage clear and concise for the guests?
    
    
• Consistency in communication online and at the reception
  • It is important that staff are well trained and that everyone is up to date on any changes that may have taken place at the property. Staff must know the service they are supposed to deliver well and be able to confidently answer most of the guests' questions. There is nothing more annoying than if a guest comes up to a front desk staff member and shows written consent from another employee that there is free coffee available or his room indeed comes with a hairdryer if they don't hold any water. Correct information on all fronts is key.
    
    
• The customer is always right (or what?)
  • Handling a guest complaint can be extremely challenging. Communication between people to the core can be challenging and not everyone is good at interpersonal communication. Don't confront the person, keep calm and don't take it personally. This is the visitor's experience and has nothing to do with you as a person. He doesn't have to be right, but you can let him think so, he will undoubtedly leave the table more satisfied and you have prevented bad comments on the internet. 
  • Clear work procedures for accommodation staff are key to having a complaint processed here and now instead of having to wait until the next day.

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In modern hotel management, managers have more options when it comes to guest relations. For example, it has increased in recent years to outsource part of the operation to companies that specialize in certain aspects of it.

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Outsourcing various aspects to others can both save money for the business, but it can also create opportunities and time for taking care of other important aspects of the business that somehow always end up on the back burner. Social media response was poorly handled, website not updated, booking engine broken, guest’s reviews not answered or addressed and all upsell opportunities gone. Because no one had time to do that.

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All this, and more, could be handled better if the hotel operator considers outsourcing, for example, guest communication to another company that specializes in it. But for that cooperation to work well, it is important that the hosting company is well informed about all the processes and the information they have is clear and up-to-date so that there is always consistency in communication with the guests, because after all, they are the ones who turn the wheels.